Preservation of wooden articles is very important, for example when using wooden articles as a building material.
It is important that the wood is protected from mould growth, insect attacks etc, as well as it is desirable to prevent the wood from rotting. Further, it is desirable to render the wooden articles more resistant to fire.
It is known in the art to treat cellulosic articles in general, such as wood, with alkaline metal silicates. The aim of such treatment is to give the treated articles a structure resembling that of petrified wood, as petrified wood is known to be very stable over long periods of time.
However, by the conventional methods of treating the wood with sodium silicates, the silicate treatment is easily washed away by water. This is for example especially disadvantageous when the wooden articles are used in a wet environment, such as for example, when the wooden articles are used in marine environments.
In addition some conventional methods of treating wood with silicates provide a coating on the surface of the wood. This is disadvantageous when treating wooden articles as a penetration into the treated article would be desirable and provide better properties of the treated wooden articles.
Thus it would be desirable to provide a silicate treatment for cellulosic articles that is not easily washed away by water, have water repellent properties and better penetration into the treated article.